I hired this guy to tile a new bathroom. There was a concrete floor and sheetrock on the walls. The area was square 5'x6'. Was putting in a shower and tile only with tile around that area and on the floor. Should have been a very simple, basic job for someone who knows how to tile.
First, he would tell me he would finish in 2 days. Said he would arrive between 7-8am then actually arrived somewhere between 9:30-10:15am. After the 2nd day, he had most of the tile installed but I had serious questions about what he had done. The tiles were not level, the pattern was not the same on one section of wall, there was a large tile that was mortored down and broken, there was dried mortor squeezed up to the top on my 1" octagon tiles (impossible to get out!!), the shower floor was not level (had dips on parts of it), there were 2 areas where tile was buldging out on the wall, the edge tiles going down the wall were not cut even so the line was not straight and the border would be off, etc.... I called him to say I wasn't happy and he told me I needed to wait until he was finished and it would all look fine. I was not willing to wait because then fixing it would be even harder.
I called out another tile guy (professional) to look and make sure that I wasn't being unreasonably critical. He was there when Matt came out to talk about the situation. Matt said that the sheetrock seams were not sanded so that made the tile buldge (to which my guy said he should have corrected it or told me to get it corrected). He said he had tools to clean the mortor from between the tiles (which I seriously question because the tiles are 1 inch octagon with very tiny lines between and I'm sure any tool would chip the tile). He said he would remove the uneven tile and cut new so that it would line up, etc... This all meant that there was going to have to be more tile purchased, more supplies purchased, repair work done, etc. Matt said he would pay for any additional materials needed. He said he would have to come back on Tuesday and I said fine but in my mind I was wondering if he really would ever come back. He said he needed some money since he had done half of the work. I have him more money amounting to half of what he said the job would cost.
I texted him Monday afternoon to ask what time he would be out. He said he didn't know because he was having a problem getting a flight home because they were flying stand by. I asked to let me know and then finally at 10pm i text again to ask if he was coming. He said they didn't make the flight. So another day went by then I texted again and he said he would be in the next day around 10 and I asked him to also bring his shop vac because we would need it. He said the motor was burned out (how can you do wood and tile floors and not have a working shop vac??). So the next day arrived and 10am he had not arrived. Then by noon, I texted him and asked if he was coming. I didn't hear from him until 1:30pm and he said he just woke up because they had to drive home the day before.
I know this person had no intention of ever coming back to clean up the mess he left. It would end up costing him money once he had to purchase more (expensive) tile and supplies. I decided that his work was so shoddy, that I didn't want him coming back because he didn't know what he was doing on the easy part, I'm sure he wouldn't know what to do on the hard bits.
I went on line and found other people who had complained about him. He likes to say he is the Christain guy and for you to have a blessed day but he is a con artist who needs to find another line of work because he sure doesn't know how to lay tile.